Fantasy; I will give almost anything a chance if it has strong fantasy elements. Post apocalyptic, superhero, alternate history, science fantasy, some supernatural, romance, and a few fandoms (especially Game of Thrones) are also likely to catch my eye.

Genre You DON'T Like:

Horror, western, pure slice of life.

Normally I don't really bother with going out of my way to do any special acts of kindness during the holidays, because I do enough various good things throughout the year to affirm my status as a decent human being with no special effort required, but this morning I encountered someone in need of a bit of extra aid and I went ahead and did so. I know some people do hold with the notion of doing especially nice things around this time of year, so I figured what the hell, may as well make a thread for others to share their own things so we can make each other feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Okay, mainly to make ourselves feel warm and fuzzy by sort of humble bragging about how magnanimous we are, but it ends up being the same thing so it's cool.

Anyway, I work as a security guard for an office building in downtown Portland, Oregon, graveyard shift. This morning at about 1:55 AM I had a guy come and knock on the front door of the building. My orders both from the property management and the security company I work for say, in not so blunt terms, to just punt any homeless people off the property and don't ever let them in the building, and they even say don't even open the doors to ask what someone wants if they look too shabby to be someone who belongs in the building. It sounds kind of shitty and snobby, but it's a fairly high class building (lots of lawyers, offices for some big name companies, and some offices for government workers take up most of the place) and a zero tolerance policy against homeless people trying to sleep and loiter around the place is the only really effective way to keep them away. It's kind of shitty, but there are good reasons behind it.

However, this guy had a very prominent black eye and a bruise going along the side of his face, and I was pretty sure he'd just gotten the shit kicked out of him recently. Even so, protocols say that I should've ignored him, told him to fuck off without opening the door, or just called the police through the non-emergency line to get them to move him along for trespassing. I didn't do any of those things. Dude looked like a fucking wreck: he was wearing some plain blue clothes that they give to inpatients at some of the local hospitals, had a blanket draped over him like a sort of cloak, he was soaking wet because of the rain, he was shivering and looked unsteady on his feet, and there was that nasty bruise. I went and unlocked the door and asked the guy if I could help him with anything.

As it turned out I was right about the assault, though it had happened an hour or more earlier. The guy said he was in a lot of pain, felt dizzy and thought he'd pass out, and that he was hearing voices telling him to hurt himself due to his schizophrenia, which he had no medication for (which is a sadly common state of affairs for homeless people who have mental illnesses that could really benefit from or require pharmaceutical treatment). He asked me to call and ambulance for him because he'd gone to about a dozen places along the street looking for a public phone or for someone to call for him, and everyone else had either given him the cold shoulder or told him to fuck off. It was almost pathetic, certainly pitiful, how grateful he was for me just bothering to talk to him like a human being. I felt sorry for the guy so I let him come inside out of the cold and rain and sit on a bench in the lobby while I called 911 for him.

I talked to him while we waited for them to get there, and the poor bastard said that he'd been in the hospital earlier that day because of the suicidal schizophrenia problems, but they booted him because of some issue with insurance. After wandering around the city he ended up getting jumped by some asshole kids, probably just because they were cruel cunts since the guy clearly wouldn't have been carrying anything of much value. After they left and he'd recovered enough to walk he went about 6 blocks from there to my building (in the cold, wind, and rain while in pain and feeling faint), though his end goal was the police station about 5 more blocks away because they were the only people he knew might actually give a damn. His thanks while the EMTs helped him out to the ambulance were some of the most heartfelt gratitude I've ever heard. What I did was such a tiny thing, but it meant so much to him, probably because like other homeless people he was very used to being treated like something less than human all the time, so finding a tiny bit of compassion was made huge by its rarity. Kind of a sobering thought, but I'm glad I was able to lend him a hand while he was sinking toward rock bottom.

A Few Posts A Day, One Post a Day, A Few Posts a Week, One Post a Week

Writing Levels:

Intermediate, Adept, Advanced, Adaptable

Genders You Prefer Playing:

Primarily Prefer Male

Playing Style- Passive or Aggressive:

Depends on my mood.

Living in the city you see those in need every day... It reminds you to be grateful for the things that you have and the people in your life that do care for you, no matter what. Sometimes it's easy to forget those things in the midst of daily life.

Good deeds? Beyond tucking a dollar or two in a homeless person's cup or simply holding the door open for someone else out of ingrained politeness, I can't say that I've done any I can name as of late. I haven't necessarily gone out of my way to do anything in particular to help anyone. Then, I do spend the majority of my time alone, working -- I suppose it narrows the opportunity I have for real interaction, beyond that on the internet. (Somewhat ironic considering I moved to the city. Old habits die hard, I suppose.)

I won't congratulate you on being a good human being, Jorick. (I don't feel like that's necessarily your purpose in relating this story anyhow.) Still, I'm glad you were able to offer the gentleman some assistance and I hope he ultimately gets proper help that he needs.

School settings, typical supernatural settings, zombies, superheroes, plot devoid pairings, crossovers, anything that has to be advertised "WITH A TWIST!"

The world would be a much better place if more people like you could see the downtrodden of society as your fellow man and not some despicable creature to be pitied or scorned. What you did for that guy will probably stay with him for the rest of his life; I hope you see him again down the road.

--I talked someone out of suicide,
--I encouraged someone to pursue their life's interests (they're registering for post secondary now)
--I bought one of my impoverished friends a small gift despite being unemployed
--I stayed up into early morning with someone for the simple act of ensuring they didn't feel alone while depressed...

To be honest I do "good deeds" often enough not to remember most of them. I enjoy helping people, it's just what I do. Life is short, tumultuous, pointless, and we'll only ever comprehend a tiny fraction of things in our lifetimes. Kicking people down and throwing away others to reach the kingpin seat of a speck of dust hurdling dangerously fast through space so I can claim the title of "king of the ignorant on a tiny tiny dustball" is not any kind of achievement I want on my record.

So here I am.

On a role playing site.

I could have spent the hours in the counseling section writing a couple more RP guides or beating a game I bought on Steam for Christmas.

... But then what's the point of it all if everyone around you is suffering?... No point at all. So I do what small things I can do. Though I guess talking someone out of suicide wasn't so small an act, hah.

This user has been banned for: Disruptive behavior, arguments, and harassment. Escalating a situation that could have been resolved peacefully.

As others have said, I tend to be a pretty decent person year-round so I don't feel there's much special I've done around this time. Except one small thing - a guy came up to me and asked for a cigarette the other day. Happily gave it to him; turned out he was living on the streets and had desperately needed one 'cause he couldn't afford them himself at the time. I know what it's like to have to go without when you're hooked, so I felt like having given him that small comfort to get him through the cold Scottish winter night hopefully would have made it a bit less bitter for him. Such a little thing, but something about how happy it made him stuck with me. As Jorick noted in his case, the guy seemed unbelievably grateful just for the small gift of a cigarette and someone having a chat with him like he was a human being, rather than ignoring him.

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